"Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent." - Calvin Coolidge

As much as I dislike this ex-president, this nugget of wisdom from him is inspiring, and sometimes even relevant to our efforts here.

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This reinforces my belief that it is possible to learn a valuable lesson from anyone.

(Even if it is as simple as "I never liked the guy, but now I know that it is a bad idea to put a fork in a live electrical outlet.")

Just pay attention . . . and keep trying.

Todd, you just reminded me of something one of my fraternity brothers used to say: "Everyone has an important purpose in this life, even if it is to serve as a bad example."

His answer would almost always be, "Better than a sharp stick in the eye."

Now my dad and I both say it all the time! LOL

Unfortunately, I'm getting shots in my eye about every 5-6 weeks now. I try to make light of it by telling them when I check-in "Cross my heart and hope to die, you're gonna' to stick a needle in my eye!" And one day an equally snarky person said in reply "Yes, and you're going to pay us to do it, too!" For the win!!

Dennis Dohogne Man, I had that done a few years ago, they hold your eye open with a mechanical apparatus, and you get to see it coming at you, man does that ever suck! And the worst part was after 3 shots, the doctor decided that wasn't the issue! Jerk. It turned out to be a pituitary tumor that hemorrhaged and was pressuring the optic nerves. It almost cost me my eyesight until surgeons removed it. But no all is good, back to almost 20/20, still don't wear glasses.